Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government publishes figures relating to the supply of affordable homes across Scotland, on a quarterly basis, which can be found online at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/.

The following table provides a breakdown of mid-market rent homes delivered with Scottish Government funding in each local authority area between April 2019 and end March 2024. The figures include Registered Social Landlord mid-market rent and Council mid-market rent homes. The figures also include other mid-market rent homes delivered through programmes such as National Housing Trust, Local Affordable Rent Housing Trust, Places for People Capital MMR Initiative and Rural and Island Housing Funds.

Local authorities as strategic housing and planning authorities are responsible for assessing affordable housing needs in their area and setting out their investment priorities in their Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs). These plans set out planned proposals for affordable housing supply over a five year period, including homes for mid-market rent, and should be available on each local authority’s website.

The Scottish Government only holds development information relating to projects on site and does not hold information relating to projects in planning beyond projects outlined in SHIPs. It is worth noting that not all mid-market rent projects in planning would necessarily be delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP).

The following table provides a breakdown by local authority area of mid-market rent homes receiving funding through the AHSP which are currently on site. The figures include Registered Social Landlord mid-market rent and Council mid-market rent homes, and other mid-market rent homes through programmes such as Places for People Capital MMR Initiative and Rural and Island Housing Funds.

A phased transition approach to the new Future Support Framework is outlined in the Agriculture Reform Route Map. Tiers 1 and 2 are the tiers that most closely resemble the current Basic Payment Scheme and Greening payments and will receive at least 70% of the available budget. The announcement at February’s NFU Scotland Conference means that the majority of funding will remain open to the majority of farmers and crofters.

Announcements on the future budget split between Tier 1 and 2 will be provided in due course.

Community benefits from our abundant energy resources, and the potential for communities to own a share of renewable energy projects, are important components in empowering people and communities to help shape and benefit from the energy transition. We are currently reviewing our Good Practice Principles for Offshore Renewables ahead of public consultation. Further details are included in the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

No compensation is available, from CalMac Ferries or NorthLink Ferries, for islanders when their trip is cancelled.

Airline passengers should expect air services to operate as scheduled. The aviation regulatory regime is Reserved to the UK Government and the Scottish Government has no power to intervene in the operation of air services. Passenger rights in relation to aviation in the UK, including in relation to service disruption, are overseen by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

In respect of islanders attending NHS appointments, under the Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme, financial support for travel to hospital is available for patients and authorised escorts, according to eligibility criteria and medical requirements. Health boards are responsible for reimbursing patient travel expenses, in line with Scottish Government guidance, and are expected to support patients to identify and access support available.

The Agricultural Reform Programme (ARP) will deliver the Vision for Agriculture which makes clear that Scotland will have a robust and coherent framework to underpin our future agricultural support regime from 2025 onwards, that delivers climate mitigation and adaptation, nature restoration and high quality food production. The Agricultural Reform Route Map provides further clarity on how we intend to deliver the ambitions set out in the Vision.

Enhanced direct payments will launch first, as a mechanism to incentivise farmers and crofters take meaningful action for climate and nature. The Enhanced tier is key to deliver the policy outcomes of the Vision and to meet the public commitment that 50% of direct payments will be ‘conditioned’ by 2025. New conditions will be introduced, with revised Greening and Cross Compliance rules, and the introduction of measures such as the Whole Farm Plan. Whole Farm Plans (WFPs) were a recommendation of the Farmer-led Groups. The foundations of the Whole Farm Plan will go live in 2025. The Foundations are 'productivity baselines': soil testing, animal health and welfare declaration, carbon audits, biodiversity audits, and the support for effective business planning. We are committed to delivering a Just Transition and the WFP will be developed with this at the forefront. That is why we will continue to work with the industry to deliver a 'just' sequencing of this requirement, ensuring that those able to contribute the most will drive this change, whilst support is put in place for those who need it.

Preparing for Sustainable Farming(PSF) is already helping businesses prepare for these changes with support for conducting carbon audits and soil sampling, support for animal health and welfare activities and access to herd data for Suckler beef producers through MyHerdStats. This support includes £500 for a Carbon Audit, financial support for soil analysis and up to £1,250 for animal health and welfare. More information about this support can be found on the Rural Payments but, in addition to that, we will be working closely with the Farm Advisory Service (FAS) on communicating with customers impacted by these changes.

It is also vital to consider the food system as a whole, not only in terms of nutritional benefits but in regard to sustainability too. Partnership was key to delivering the Good Food Nation Act, which places duties on Scottish Ministers, local authorities and health boards to produce plans of their food-related policies and set out what they will do to make them a reality. The Good Food Nation Plan will provide the direction for these and was subject to a recent consultation. The National Plan is due to be published next year, with local authority and health board iterations to follow the year after.

The Scottish Government issued a general call for evidence on the Scottish Government’s X Account on 10 July. In addition, since announcing the review on 6 March at a visit to the Heart of Newhaven project in Edinburgh, we have emailed stakeholder and community groups who have engaged with Community Right to Buy to seek their views.

This initial call for evidence will inform a full formal consultation in summer 2025, which will give everyone the opportunity to comment. The response to which will be published and summarised in accordance with standard consultation practice.

The review will consider all of the previous work that has been carried out in exploring the various community rights to buy. The Scottish Land Commission will be involved in discussions along with a wide range of other stakeholders and community groups, throughout the review.

The Scottish Government, through its various public bodies is increasing woodland cover on the land that they own and manage and are looking for further opportunities. This includes the landscape scale native woodland creation work being explored by Forestry and Land Scotland at Glen Prosen, and the delivery of significant new woodland by Scottish Water at Loch Katrine. At this time there are no plans to amend the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018 with regards to this policy area.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) should be read and applied as a whole. A plan-led approach is central to supporting its delivery and it is a legislative requirement that planning decisions must be made in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Annex A to NPF4 outlines how to use the document, It states that it is for the decision maker to determine what weight to give to individual policies in the circumstances of each case.

The work, advice, and recommendations of the Just Transition Commission (JTC) continue to be an important part of the Scottish Government’s drive towards a Just Transition to our net zero future. We are committed to providing an annual statement to update on the progress of just transition activity, with the date for the next statement yet to be confirmed. The upcoming statement will include information about land use and agriculture as well as the other sectors of importance highlighted by the JTC.